Wednesday 26 October 2022 05:16 PM New BBC drama retells the story of David Stirling's original SAS 'Rogue Heroes' trends now

For decades, the SAS has been well-known for being the British Army's most elite band of men. 

The fearsome trained killers have protected Britain's interests wherever required - most famously in the 1980 siege of the Iranian embassy, when they rescued 24 hostages as millions watched on the television news. 

But now, a new BBC drama re-tells the story of the previously top secret origins of the Special Air Service, which was formed in North Africa in 1941 by Lieutenant-Colonel David Stirling. 

Along with key members such Paddy Mayne, Jock Lewes and Reg Seekings, Stirling led a force that existed to wreak havoc behind enemy lines during the Second World War.

They targeted dozens of airbases and destroyed hundreds of German and Italian planes.

SAS Rogue Heroes, the first episode of which airs on Sunday, depicts the real-life events that were revealed at great length by historian Ben Macintyre in his 2016 book of the same name. 

Stirling, who was described by Britain's most senior military officer as 'quite mad',  is played by Sex Education star Connor Swindells, with Jack O'Connell - who recently appeared in Lady Chatterley's Lover - playing Mayne and Games of Thrones' Alfie Allen depicting Lewes.

Mayne was infamous for his violent antics before war had even broken out, whilst his feat of tearing out the control panel of an enemy aircraft in one raid has gone down in SAS legend. 

Lewes, an Oxford graduate, was known to practise parachute jumps by leaping from the back of speeding lorries, whilst intelligence officer Dudley Clarke - who gave the SAS its name - once created a fake parachute regiment and spread information about it to terrify Italian troops. Clarke is portrayed by Dominic West. 

Stirling got the idea for the new elite regiment after witnessing the British Army's drubbing against German military chief Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps in Egypt.  

'Big Dave' successfully argued the case that Britain needed to send guerilla fighters behind German lines to create chaos.

Given Britain's plight on the battlefield in North Africa at the time, permission was given to Stirling for him to assemble his unit, which was made up of soldiers who had proven themselves to be fearless. 

From the start, the elite unit was made up of as few as 100 men, all of whom had been trained beyond the standards of all other fighting men.

Others who were key to the inception of the SAS included intelligence officer Clarke who worked out of a converted bathroom in a British Army office in Cairo. He is played by Dominic West in SAS: Rogue Heroes. 

Clarke was responsible for naming the unit, after creating the fake paratrooper regiment to worry the Italians about possible attacks.

He then agreed to work with Stirling if he would adopt the name Special Air Service for the regiment.

Many would-be recruits were rejected for not being tough enough. One had walked across the desert for 40 miles in only his socks after his boots fell apart. 

Those who did make it were the men willing to kill with guns, knives and even their bare hands without a moment's hesitation.